The note-leavers didn’t waste any time this school year

so when I see the paper poking out from down

the hall, my stomach sinks, even as the mature

voice in my head says something tough

like let’s see if their handwriting has improved.

It has.

Neat blue pen.

Circles dot i’s.

But this one doesn’t feel

like the others.

It says:

What’s done in the dark will be revealed in the light

and if I didn’t know Sarah

was twelve miles away at her new

school, I’d think it was her

issuing one last barb—it sounds

just Bible-thumpy enough.

There are more words on the back

but I don’t read them.

I may be a lot of things

but a masochist

isn’t one of them.